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1643 

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The  Religious  Possibilities 


of  the 


Motion  Picture 


Herbert  A.  Jump 

Minister  of  the  South  Congregational  Church 
New  Britain,  Connecticut 


Printed  for  private  distribution 
December,   1910 


The  Religious  Possibilities 

of  the 

Motion   Picture 


Herbert  A.  Jump 

Minister  of  the  South  Congregational  Church 
New  Britain,  Connecticut 


Printed  for  private  distribution 
December,   1910 


Theatre  Arts 
library 


£V 


H3 


7£ 


A  STATEMENT 


In  April,  1910,  the  minister  of  the  South  Church,  New  Britain, 
Conn.,  in  a  session  of  the  Men's  Civic  Class,  expressed  a  hope  that  some 
time  a  moving  picture  equipment  might  be  owned  and  used  by  the 
Church.  In  a  city  of  15,000  wage-earners,  many  of  them  of  foreign 
birth,  he  felt  that  the  motion  picture  could  be  made  a  most  serviceable 
adjunct  to   religious   education. 

Two  months  later,  ex-Mayor  George  M.  Landers,  at  the  invitation 
of  Mr.  Jump,  generously  consented  to  endow  a  moving  picture  service 
in  the  South  Church  for  thirty  Sunday  evenings,  purchasing  all  necessary 
apparatus  and  meeting  the  expense  of  operating  it.  The  announcement  of 
his  gift  excited  considerable  newspaper  notice  and  editorial  comment 
throughout  the  East  as  being  a  decided  innovation  in  church  methods. 
Meanwhile  the  question  of  introducing  the  service  was  taken  under 
consideration  by  the    Standing   Committee  of  the  church. 

Mr.  Jump  spent  considerable  time  during  the  summer  making  a 
study  of  motion  pictures,  visiting  the  manufacturers'  studios,  sitting 
with  the  Censorship  Board,  consulting  with  exhibitors  a-nd  managers  of 
exchanges  and  social  workers,  and  preparing  his  series  of  services  for 
the  winter  of  1910-11. 

In  October,  it  was  decided  by  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  church 
that  circumstances  made  it  unwise  for  the  South  Church  to  conduct  a 
motion-picture  service  this  year,  so  the  plan  was  abandoned. 

The  interest  aroused  by  the  proposal,  however,  and  the  correspond- 
ence stirred  up  by  it,  seem  to  justify  the  publishing  of  some  memoranda 
setting  forth  the  considerations  which  led  to  the  original  suggestion. 
Evidently  many  religious  and  quasi-religious  organizations  and  also  many 
thoughtful  individuals  will  welcome  information  on  this  topic  of 
the  times,  the  motion  picture.  Accordingly,  this  pamphlet  covers  more 
than  is  demanded  by  its  title,  and  it  is  also  equipped  with  an  appendix 
containing  a  few  facts  that  may  be  of  service  to  the  inquiring  social 
worker. 

In  conclusion,  it  is  appropriate  to  quote  the  words  with  which  one 
of  the  most  refined  and  far-sighted  of  the  film  manufacturers  greeted 
Mr.  Jump :  "The  interests  which  you  represent,"  he  said,  "are  the  inter- 
ests which  we  wish  to  satisfy." 


"Jesus  said,  A  certain  man  was  going  down  Jrom 
Jertisalem  to  Jericho,  and  he  Jell  among  robbers  which 
both  stripped  him  and  beat  him  and  departed,  leaving 
him  ha IJ  dead. 

And  by  chance  a  certain  priest  was  going  down  that 
way:  and  when  he  saw  him,  he  passed  by  on  the  other 
side. 

And  in  like  manner  a  Levite  also,  when  he  came  to 
the  place  and  saw  him,  passed  by  on  the  other  side. 

But  a  certain  Samaritan  as  he  journeyed  came  where 
he  was:  and  when  he  saw  him  he  was  moved  with 
compassion,  and  came  to  him,  and  bound  up  his  wounds 
pouring  on  them  oil  and  wine;  and  he  set  him  on  his 
own  beast  and  brought  him  to  an  inn  and  took  care  of 
him. 

And  on  the  morrow  he  took  out  two  pence  a?id  gave 
them  to  the  host  and  said,  Take  care  of  him:  arid 
whatsoever  thou  spendest  more,  I  when  I  come  back  again 
will  repay  thee. 

Which  oj  these  three,  thinkest  thou,  proved  neighbor 
unto  him  that  Jell  among  the  robbers  f  And  the  lawyer 
said,  He  that  showed  mercy  on  him. 

And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Co,  and  do  thou  likewise.'''' 

Luke  10:  30-37. 


The  Religious  Possibilities 

of  the 

Motion  Picture 


When  Jesus  desired  to  set  forth  the  essential  meaning  of 
Christianity  in  a  universal  language  that  should  speak  to  men  of 
every  age  and  all  races,  he  chose  a  dramatic  story.  He  told  the 
parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan,  and  therein  gave  an  example  of 
ideal  preaching  which  many  preachers  of  the  present  day,  alas ! 
seem  to  have  completely  overlooked. 

Note  some  of  the  details  of  that  sermon-story.  It  was  not 
taken  from  the  Bible, — the  Old  Testament  used  as  a  Bible  by 
Jesus'  auditors, — but  from  contemporary  experience.  It  was  the 
sort  of  thing  that  might  have  happened  any  day  and  to  any  one  in 
his  audience.  Secondly,  it  was  an  exciting  story.  Robber-tales 
always  thrill  the  emotions,  and  much  more  in  the  ancient  world 
perhaps  than  today,  because  then  the  risk  and  the  likelihood  of 
such  deeds  of  violence  were  immeasurably  greater  than  now. 
Thirdly,  this  narrative-sermon  frankly  introduces  morally 
negative  elements  and  leaves  them  negative  to  the  end  of  the 
chapter.  Was  it  not  dangerous  to  the  church  establishment  of 
that  day  to  have  its  priest  and  Levite  pictured  as  failing  so  ut- 
terly in  the  grace  of  compassion,  held  up  to  ridicule  as  hyp- 
ocrites and  poseurs?  And  as  for  the  robbers  themselves,  not 
only  did  the  story  give  a  most  realistic  description  of  precisely 
how  they  perpetrated  the  cowardly  crime  of  violence,  but  it 
leaves  them  victorious  in  their  wickedness,  scurrying  off  with  their 
booty,  unrepentant  of  their  sins,  probably  chuckling  at  the  folly 
of  the  traveller  for  venturing  upon  the  notorious  Jerusalem- 
Jericho  road  without  a  caravan  to  protect  him  from  the  high- 
waymen. And  yet,  despite  these  three  dubious  characteristics 
of  not  being  Scriptural  to  the  people  who  heard  it,  of  being  ex- 


citing,  and  of  having  realistic  and  morally  negative  features  in 
it,  who  dare  assert  that  the  story  of  the  Good  Samaritan  has 
wrought  harm  in  the  world  ?  Rather,  has  it  not  earned  for  itself 
recognition  as  being  the  central  parable  of  all  the  master's  teach- 
ings ?  Has  it  not  exhibited  in  complete  and  convincing  fashion  the 
very  heart  of  the  Gospel  ?  Has  it  not  urged  more  men  into 
lives  of  ministry  and  helpfulness  than  any  piece  of  literature 
of  equal  length  which  the  race  has  ever  known? 

PREJUDICE   AGAINST  MOTION  PICTURES. 

We  have  delayed  thus  on  the  story  of  the  Good  Samaritan  in 
order  to  disarm  if  possible  that  mood  of  antagonism  with  which 
some  of  you  approach  the  general  subject  of  motion  pictures.  You 
"know  that  they  are  bad",  because  they  are  exhibited  in  a 
theatre  that  charges  only  five  or  ten  cents  admission.  You 
have  never  seen  many  of  them,  perhaps  not  any  of  them ;  but 
from  various  sources,  you  hardly  remember  whence,  the  sus- 
picion has  been  bred  in  your  mind  that  the  motion  picture  is 
evil  and  evil  altogether.  To  assert  therefore  that  there  are  any 
"religious  possibilities"  in  the  motion  picture  strikes  you  as  the 
acme  of  absurdity.  It  is  as  though  one  were  to  announce  a  ser- 
mon on  "The  Spiritual  Value  of  the  Clog  Dance."  You  have 
heard  that  motion  picture  stories  are  likely  to  represent  crime, 
that  they  are  exciting,  and  that  scarcely  a  phase  of  modern  ex- 
perience has  been  overlooked  by  the  manufacturer  as  he  scoured 
the  universe  to  find  novel  subjects  for  his  motion  picture  films. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  point:  the  objections  which  you  and 
others  thus  make  against  the  religious  use  of  motion  pictures 
can  all  of  them  be  urged  with  equal  force  against  the  use  of 
the  most  convincing  parable  which  the  Christ  ever  uttered. 
The  films  that  have  value  for  religious  education  today  are  those 
which  portray  truth  as  the  Good  Samaritan  portrays  it : — in  a 
dramatic  story,  of  contemporary  experience,  exciting  in  character 
and  thus  interesting  even  to  the  morally  slu^^ish,  picturing  neg- 
ative elements  such  as  crime,  accident,  ignorance,  sin,  and  thus 
commending  itself  as  true  to  life,  but  in  the  end  showing  the  de- 
feat and  expulsion  of  these  negative  elements  by  positive  quali- 
fies, virtuous  souls,  God-like  traits.     The  only  thing  needed  to 


make  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan  a  conspicuously  success- 
ful motion  picture  film  is  a  new  title.  Call  it  "The  Adventure  of 
the  Jerusalem  Merchant",  and  it  would  appeal  perfectly  to  the 
habitue  of  the  dime  theatre,  and  he  would  catch  the  noble  mor- 
al of  it  far  more  swiftly,  perhaps,  than  do  many  of  the  more 
well-to-do  Christians,  who  hear  it  rather  than  see  it,  when  it  is 
droned  forth  from  the  pulpit  by  the  preacher  of  a  Sunday  morn- 
ing as  the  New  Testament  lesson. 

HOW  TO  MAKE   SERMONS  INTERESTING. 

The  visible  drama  shown  in  the  right  sort  of  motion  picture, 
accordingly,  has  religious  possibilities  just  as  the  spoken  dramatic 
story  or  parable  has  them.  Both  help  to  make  the  Gospel  vivid. 
Indeed,  one  may  venture  the  statement  that  the  modern 
motion  picture  offers  the  most  colossal  opportunity  for  making 
a  fresh  moral  and  religious  appeal  to  the  non-churched  por- 
tions of  the  community  that  has  arisen  in  the  history  of  recent 
Christianity.  Why  is  it  that  people  do  not  come  to  church? 
Many  of  them  will  say  frankly,  "Your  church  is  not  interest- 
ing; your  service  of  worship  is  adapted  only  to  the  taste  of 
those  who  have  been  trained  up  to  it;  I  cannot  understand 
your  music  and  cannot  keep  awake  through  your  sermons ;  the 
interest  of  the  clergymen  seems  to  be  far  more  with  Jehoikim  and 
Ancient  Babylon  than  with  the  living  men  and  the  living  issues  of 
today.     In  a  word  the  church  is  dull,  therefore  I  stay  away." 

How  far  these  criticisms  are  warranted  need  not  occupy  us 
here.  Suffice  to  say  we  shall  meet  these  criticisms  in  part  if  we 
try  to  present  Christian  truth  in  forms  of  present-day  life,  illustra- 
trating  its  issues  from  modern  America  more  than  from  Ancient 
Samaria.  We  also  need  to  put  Christian  truth  into  pictorial 
and  story  form  so  that  it  will  appeal  to  the  imagination.  The 
great  popular  preachers,  Beecher,  Moody,  Spurgeon,  and  Gipsy 
Smith,  all  were  masters  in  the  use  of  word  pictures.  The  mov- 
ing picture  machine  enables  the  church  to  make  jthe  same  form 
of  appeal  with  visible  and  animated  pictures.  The  pulpit  orators 
and  evangelists  use  "moving  pictures"  in  one  sense  of  the  term, 
pictures  that  move  the  heart  by  their  thrilling  quality ;  but  the  pic- 
ture that  literally  is  moving,  that  portrays  dramatic  sequence  and 


life-like  action,  possesses  tenfold  more  vividness  and  becomes 
therefore  a  more  convincing  medium  of  education.  The  common 
people  love  stories  and  buy  the  cheap  magazines  to  an  amazing 
degree ;  these  persons  would  love  the  motion-picture  church  ser- 
vice which  gave  them  religious  truths  through  acted  stories. 

We  men  and  women  who  have  ever  shown  interest  in  pictures, 
hanging  them  on  the  walls  of  our  homes,  seeking  them  in  illus- 
trated books  and  now  in  picture-postcards,  should  turn  naturally 
to  the  motion  picture  sermon  which  puts  the  gospel  in  a  pictorial 
form.  Some  of  you  who  attend  church  love  the  doctrinal 
phraseology  of  St.  Paul.  There  is  many  a  hardheaded  American 
working  man,  however,  who  confesses  freely  that  to  him  St. 
Paul  is  only  a  prosy  old  theologian.  Paul,  however,  was  not  a  prosy 
theologian  to  the  men  of  his  day.  Why  not  ?  Because  his  illustra- 
tions for  the  gosepl  were  taken  from  the  life  of  his  contemporaries 
— the  racing  habits  of  his  day,  for  example,  and  the  boxing 
matches.  We  ministers  of  today  may  not  quite  dare  follow 
Paul  in  illustrating  spiritual  truth  from  the  trotting  park  or  a 
recent  famous  prize  fight  in  a  western  city,  but  we  have  a  right 
to  use  stories  taken  from  life  in  the  shop  and  factory  and  on 
the  street  as  illustrations  of  the  gospel  to  the  men  of  today. 
Because  the  motion  picture  carefully  selected  will  tell  to  the 
eye  moral  truths  with  vigor  of  illustration  and  an  eloquence  of  im- 
pression which  the  most  enthusiastic  orator  cannot  command, 
it  has  a  proper  place  in  the  equipment  of  any  church  which  is 
trying  to  reach  the  masses. 

THE   VOGUE   OF  THE   MOTION  PICTURE. 

The  power  and  popularity  of  this  new  instrument  which  lies 
at  hand  for  the  church  to  use,  if  only  it  have  the  vision  to  do 
so,  may  be  inferred  from  some  statistics. 

There  are  about  10,000  motion  picture  theatres  in  the 
United  States  exhibiting  to  a  daily  audience  of  more  than 
4,000,000  persons.  The  magnitude  of  this  new  sociological  fact 
concerning  the  amusement  habits  of  the  American  people  needs 
to  be  more  adequately  recognized.  The  theatre  in  its  older  and  more 


8 


familiar  form  is  not  a  new  institution  in  the  United  States 
and  yet  in  all  the  decades  of  its  popularity  it  never  drew  to- 
gether a  daily  audience  of  more  than  750,000  to  its  straight 
drama,  vaudeville  or  burlesque.  But  here  has  arisen  a  new 
species  of  entertainment  which  in  less  than  a  decade  has  built 
up  a  daily  constituency  five  times  as  large  as  that  of  its  com- 
petitors who  have  been  long  on  the  field.  The  motion  picture 
appeals,  moreover,  to  old  and  young.  400,000  school  children  in 
New  York  city  visit  them  every  day.  In  some  down-town 
districts  in  New  York  investigation  shows  that  seventy-five  per 
cent  of  the  pupils  attend  at  least  once  a  week.  Opening  its 
doors  to  the  public  in  the  morning,  the  "M.  P.  theatre",  as  the 
motion  picture  establishment  is  called  by  the  trade,  draws  thous- 
ands of  working  people  for  a  period  of  relaxation  at  the  noon 
hour,  and  there  are  Boston  houses  which  are  regularly  patron- 
ized by  the  Back  Bay  set  during  the  afternoon,  when  the  wear- 
iness of  shopping  overtakes  them  and  some  rest  of  body  and 
nerves  is  needed  before  the  next  department  store  is  invaded. 

RECENT   STATISTICS  IN    NEW  BRITAIN. 

In  order  to  ascertain  the  vogue  of  the  motion  picture  in  our 
own  city,  I  secured  the  cooperation  recently  of  the  principal  of 
a  public  school  situated  so  that  its  body  of  pupils  truly  repres- 
ented the  complex  and  polyglot  population  of  a  Connecticut 
manufacturing  center.  The  statistics  were  gleaned  from  350 
scholars  from  ten  to  fourteen  years  of  age.  All  but  34  out  of  this 
number  said  that  they  went  to  the  moving  picture  shows,  183 
went  as  often  as  once  a  week,  130  went  twice  a  week  or  oftener. 
9  children  went  every  day,  of  which  number,  however,  3  went 
because  of  business  connections  with  the  theatre,  selling  pop- 
corn, etc.  6  others  averaged  six  times  a  week.  Of  the  316  pupils 
who  attended,  130  said  they  went  without  parents  or  older 
persons  to  accompany  them,  and  only  20  limited  their  attendance 
to  afternoon  performances.  Seventy-five  went  to  Sunday  evening 
performances.  Having  exhausted  the  list  of  inquiries  which  she 
had  in  mind,  the  principal  asked,  "Do  you  think  of  any  other 
question  I  ought  to  put  to  you?"    And  one  young  hopeful  piped 


up,  "Wouldn't  you  like  to  know  which  theatre  we  think  is 
the  healthiest, — ■  has  best  ventilation,  etc.  ?"  And  when  the 
teacher  asked  that  question  she  got  as  frank  an  answer  as  she 
had  received  to  her  other  queries.  The  lines  of  thought  sug- 
gested by  these  statistics  are  many,  but  there  is  no  time  to 
follow  them  up  now. 

THE   BAD   SIDE   OF  THE   MOTION   PICTURE   THEATRE. 

In  our  city  not  long  ago,  when  a  stormy  day  prevented 
the  afternoon  session  of  the  public  schools,  a  lad  came  up  to 
the  teacher's  desk  and  triumphantly  showing  a  nickel  said  jubi- 
lantly, "Now  I'll  have  a  chance  to  go  to  the  moving  pictures 
before  I  carry  my  papers."  The  problem  of  the  poor  man's  lei- 
sure, someone  has  said,  is  the  crux  of  the  social  problem.  If 
only  the  motion  picture — which  has  recently  been  authoritatively 
rechristened  under  the  more  convenient  title  of  the  "photoplay" 
— could  be  carried  on  by  the  school  and  church  and  municipality 
so  as  to  fill  the  poor  man's  and  the  poor  boy's  leisure  with 
helpful  instruction  and  clean  entertainments,  instead  of  being 
carried  on  by  private  individuals  not  always  of  the  most  refined 
type  for  gain,  it  would  be  a  splendid  thing.  The  two  points 
of  danger  in  the  "M.  P.  theatre"  today  are  the  character  of 
the  exhibitors  who  conduct  the  business  and  the  character  of 
the  vaudeville  acts  which  are  generally  interspersed  between  the 
different  films  to  rest  the  eyes, — and  apparently  also  to  pander 
to  a  depraved  taste  on  the  part  of  the  theatre-going  public  which, 
for  reasons  to  be  explained  later,  does  not  find  in  the  motion 
picture  itself  the  salacious  and  indecent  elements  which  are 
craved.  In  the  course  of  considerable  exploration  into  the  mo- 
tion picture  world  during  the  last  year  I  have  visited  scores 
of  theatres  in  a  dozen  cities  of  the  East ;  and  while  my  testimony 
will  surprise  the  uninformed,  I  am  ready  to  declare  that  in  all 
the  hundreds  of  films  which  I  have  seen,  there  has  not 
been  a  single  one  that  was  indecent  and  there  have  been  only 
a  very  few  that  impressed  me  as  morally  dangerous  to  the  com- 
munity. This  could  not  have  been  the  report  a  year  ago,  and  it 
would  have  been  altogether  impossible  five  years  ago. 


10 


THE   MAIN  TROUBLE   IS   NOT    THE    PICTURES. 

The  fact  is :  that  the  motion  pictures  being  shown  in  the  United 
States  today,  thanks  to  the  Board  of  Censorship  established  by 
the  People's  Institute  in  New  York,  show  on  the  average  a  far 
higher  moral  tone  than  the  plays  and  comic  operas  and  vaude- 
ville which  are  supported  by  the  so-called  respectable  classes. 
Many  motion  picture  films,  to  be  sure,  leave  much  to  be  de- 
.  sired  in  the  way  of  refinement,  good  taste,  delicacy  of  feeling — but 
public  taste  exhibits  the  same  lacks.  Meanwhile  the  percentage 
of  innocuous  pictures  is  much  higher  than  the  percentage  of 
innocuous  dramas,  while  behind  the  photoplay  industry  there  is  an 
intelligent  body  of  men  and  women  constituting  the  Censorship 
Committee,  not  in  the  least  connected  with  motion  pictures  com- 
mercially, who  are  moving  as  fast  as  the  public  will  permit  to- 
ward a  complete  disinfecting  of  this  form  of  entertainment  from 
every  taint  of  harm.  And  the  leading  manufacturers  are  co- 
operating most  willingly  and  most  intelligently. 

Having  spoken  thus  favorably  concerning  the  motion  pic- 
ture itself,  one  must  add,  however,  that  the  so-called  motion 
picture  theatre  as  at  present  conducted  in  many  communities 
is  a  grave  peril.  The  moral  dangers  attached  to  the  darkness  in 
which  the  pictures  were  shown  in  most  theatres  a  couple  of 
years  ago,  have  been  largely  eliminated  by  the  growing  custom 
of  exhibiting  the  photoplays  in  a  half-lighted  theatre.  But  the 
vaudeville  acts  sprinkled  through  the  picture  program  are  nec- 
essarily cheap,  and  therefore,  not  infrequently  vulgar  and 
even  nasty.  They  ought  to  be  strictly  censored  or  entirely 
eliminated.  Laws  requiring  that  young  children  be  attended  by 
their  parents  or  older  guardians  ought  also  to  be  universally 
passed  and  enforced,  this  not  because  the  theatre  is  necessarily 
more  fraught  with  peril  than,  for  instance,  the  city  street, 
but  because  the  theatre  is  a  newer  and  more  popular  diversion 
for  children  than  the  street,  and  so  needs  the  more  to  be  sur- 
rounded with  safeguards. 

THE  MOVING  PICTURE   AS    AN     INVENTION. 

A  good  argument  could  be  made  in  the  support  of  the  proposi- 
tion that  the  motion  picture,  in  some  respects,  is  the  most  won- 


derful  invention  which  has  come  into  existence  since  the  inven- 
tion of  printing  in  the  fifteenth  century.  One  day  by  accident 
Gutenberg  discovered  the  art  of  using  movable  type.  By  help 
of  this  new  art  of  printing,  books  which  before  had  been  only  the 
luxury  of  the  rich  now  became  the  possession  of  the  many.  Strik- 
ingly enough,  the  earliest  use  of  the  printed  page  was  the  religious 
use,for  the  first  printed  book  was  the  Bible.  The  invention  of  the 
moving  picture  machine  by  Mr.  Edison  in  1889  has  resulted 
in  the  same  popularizing  of  a  privilege  which  previously  had 
been  confined  to  a  few.  As  printing  made  literature  universal, 
so  the  cinematograph  is  rapidly  making  the  drama  universal. 
Who  knows  but  what  this  new  invention  may  also  serve  religion 
as  soon  as  religion  is  willing  to  accept  its  assistance?  The 
typical  motion  picture  film  today  is  a  short  acted  story  put  on  the 
stage  by  high  grade  actors,  working  out  the  plot  contributed  in 
some  cases  by  such  literary  experts  as  Shakespeare,Victor  Hugo, 
Goethe,  Dickens.  The  moving  picture  began  as  photographs  of 
scenery,  later  it  employed  living  people,  then  pictures  of  living 
people  doing  interesting  things,  and  thus  came  about  the  "picture 
play*'  which  is  a  little  story  of  real  life  acted  in  front  of  the 
camera  and  distributed  throughout  the  country  on  a  celluloid 
film. 

WHAT   MR.    EDISON   SAYS. 

No  one  has  ever  charged  Thomas  Edison  with  being  a 
cheap  panderer  to  the  vicious  tastes  of  a  debased  society.  Rather 
he  has  been  always  a  friend  and  uplifter  of  the  race,  and  it  is 
by  Mr.  Edison  that  such  words  as  these  are  written ; 

"Moving  pictures  bring  to  everyone  an  absolutely  clear  idea 
of  foreign  peoples  through  their  customs  and  through  scenes 
of  the  world  and  through  the  industries  and  pursuits  of  man. 
They  have  a  tremendous  educational  effect.  This  is  true  even 
of  the  seemingly  purely  amusement  moving  pictures.  Little  cross- 
sections  of  life  are  shown,  staged  and  acted  better  than  are  the 
cheap  shows  given  at  considerably  higher  prices.  The  motion 
picture  is  an  important  factor  in  the  world's  intellectual  develop- 
ment. It  will  have  a  great  uplifting  effect  on  the  morality  of 
mankind.     It  will  wipe  out  various  prejudices  which  are  often 


ignorance.  It  will  create  a  feeling  of  sympathy  and  a  desire  to 
uplift  the  downtrodden  peoples  of  the  earth.  It  will  give  new 
ideals  to  be  followed.  For  these  reasons  I  believe  that  moving 
pictures  present  the  right  means  in  the  hands  of  broad-minded, 
intellectual  and  informed  workers  for  the  world's  good,  for 
the  innocent  amusement,  efficient  instruction  and  the  moral  ad- 
vance of  the  great  masses  of  people." 

WHAT  AN   EDITOR   OF  THE    CONGREGATIONALIST   SAYS. 

The  Congregationalist  contained  two  illuminating  articles  on 
motion  pictures  in  its  issues  for  July  9  and  16,  1910.  From  this 
writer  we  quote  the  following  sentences  : 

"Within  almost  a  single  round  of  seasons  the  picture  show 
has  become  an  immense  enterprise,  a  world-wide  amusement,  a 
universal  influence.  When  you  hear  that  in  France  during  the 
eviction  of  the  ecclesiastics  the  films  played  such  an  important 
part  that  they  nearly  created  a  rebellion ;  that  Sweden  has  en- 
dowed a  moving  picture  theatre  for  presenting  historical  scenes ; 
that  a  foreign  manufacturer  made  an  offer  of  $200,000  for  the 
privilege  of  taking  the  Oberammergau  Passion  Play,  which 
offer  was  refused — you  begin  to  get  an  idea  of  the  magnitude 
of  the  subject.  Not  only  this,  but  the  moving  picture  is  rapidly 
taking  its  place  beside  commerce  and  foreign  missions  in  making 
for  a  world  brotherhood..  Read  this  from  a  staff  writer  of  the 
Survey : 

"  'On  an  island  two  thousand  miles  out  in  the  Pacific  Ocean 
the  exiled  lepers  of  Molokai  gather  daily  before  the  flickering 
wonders  of  a  screen  that  shows  them  the  world  of  life  and  free- 
dom. Seated  in  the  luxurious  saloon  of  an  ocean  liner  a  group 
of  travelers  study  life-like  pictures  of  the  countries  for  which 
they  are  bound.  In  Iceland  excited  Eskimos  applaud  the  hero- 
ism of  a  cowboy  who  rescues  a  maiden  from  the  redskins. 
Halfway  round  the  world  in  Northern  Russia  tearful  peasants 
sorrow  over  the  pictured  flight  of  a  forlorn  French  lover. 
The  newspaper  correspondents  with  the  battleship  fleet  tell  us 
that  in  every  corner  of  the  globe  they  found  the  dimly  lighted 
rooms  where  living  tragedy  and  comedy  flash  across  the  screen.' 

"Facts  like  the  foregoing  explain  why  a  religious  journal  like 

13 


the  Congregationalist  sees  a  reason  for  examining  such  a  fea- 
ture of  our  modern  life.  Not  only  because  the  moving  picture 
has  become  so  widespread  an  influence  is  it  of  interest  to  us ; 
but  also  because  its  possibilities  have  only  begun  to  be  uncovered, 
and  in  this  undeveloped  and  unknown  future  educational  and 
religious  agencies  seem  destined  to  have  a  great  share.  While 
no  one  can  be  blind  to  the  fact  of  its  great  possibilities  for 
evil,  the  moving  picture  has  neither  done  so  much  harm  nor  des- 
served  such  imprecations  as  have  been  put  upon  it  by  well- 
meaning  but  uninformed  Christian  people." 

THE  MECHANICS  OF  THE  PHOTOPLAY. 

A  motion  picture  film  is  usually  about  one  thousand  feet  long, 
and  contains  about  sixteen  thousand  photographs  each  three- 
quarters  of  an  inch  square.  These  are  thrown  on  the  screen 
at  a  rate  of  about  sixteen  or  twenty  a  second.  The  scene  to 
be  photographed  is  sometimes  staged,  like  a  regular  drama  in 
a  theatre,  in  the  film  manufacturer's  studio,  sometimes  it  is  acted 
out  in  the  open  air.  A  famous  film  showing  the  Israelites  cross- 
ing the  Red  Sea  was  staged  on  a  New  Jersey  sand  flat.  The 
Edison  Company,  one  of  the  most  progressive  firms  of  manu- 
facturers, whose  manager  showed  me  every  courtesy  as  I 
visited  his  studio  looking  into  this  subject  a  few  months  ago, 
uses  a  stage  twice  as  large  as  that  of  the  Metropolitan  Opera 
House,  on  which  often  two  plays  will  be  running  at  the  same 
time.  Its  own  scene  painters  and  stage  carpenters  and  property 
men  equip  this  stage  with  every  requisite  for  showing  a  Biblical 
story,  an  ancient  Roman  drama,  a  modern  street  comedy.  Every 
trick  of  photography  is  also  utilized,  and  not  infrequently  the  cost 
of  putting  on  a  picture  play  will  mount  up  into  the  thousands  of 
dollars  before  the  film  is  ready  to  be  "released".  Two  trade 
journals  are  published  weekly  giving  the  titles  and  descriptions 
of  30  manufacturers'  output,  which  aggregates  eight  new  films 
each  day.  These  are  handled  by  "exchanges"  which  rent  the 
pictures  to  the  exhibitor  at  prices  per  day  varying  with  the 
quality  and  age  of  the  film.  An  ordinary  "reel"  costs  about 
$100  to  make  and  can  be  used  500  times  before  it  becomes  use- 
less.    A  moving  picture  machine  costs  approximately  $225,  a 

14 


fireproof  booth  to  conform  to  state  laws  here  in  Connecticut 
costs  about  $135,  rentals  for  films  average  several  dollars  a 
day  for  each  film.  These  facts  concerning  the  moving  picture 
industry  at  large  are  serviceable  as  furnishing  the  financial  and 
sociological  data  on  which  the  church  has  to  build  when  it  essays 
to  adopt  the  photoplay  for  moral  and  spiritual  uses. 

THE   RANGE  OF  MOTION  PICTURE    SUBJECTS. 

The  range  of  subjects  covered  by  motion  picture  films  is 
well-nigh  limitless,  and  herein  lies  the  possibility  of  their  min- 
istry in  education.  While  the  current  taste  runs  largely  to 
what  we  have  called  the  picture-drama,  the  manufacturers  are 
nevertheless  putting  out  subjects  to  suit  all  classes  of  society 
and  to  meet  all  sorts  of  demand.  A  glance  at  the  "Catalogue 
of  Educational  Motion  Pictures"  published  by  George  Kleine  of 
Chicago  is  likely  to  astonish  the  person  who  has  not  followed 
the  swift  expansion  of  this  youthful  industry.  In  this  volume 
of  350  pages  are  listed  thousands  of  films  under  such  general 
department  titles  as  Agriculture,  Applied  Science,  Fine  Arts, 
Literary,  History,  Religious,  Military,  Natural  Science,  Rail- 
road, Sports  and  Travel.  There  exist  films  showing  the  story  of 
the  silk  worm,  the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  process  of  mak- 
ing steel,  a  tour  through  Palestine,  the  Boy  Scouts,  the  work  of 
the  Fresh  Air  Fund.  The  health  crusades  against  tuberculosis, 
typhoid  fever,  malaria,  impure  milk,  the  pest  of  flies,  and  unhy- 
genic  housing  conditions  are  all  equipped  with  film-stories  to 
aid  in  their  campaigns.  Surgical  operations  are  shown  to  medical 
students  far  from  the  metropolitan  hospital  where  the  opera- 
tion was  performed ;  sailors  and  marines  on  our  American  men- 
of-war  are  taught  by  pictures  what  they  could  never  learn  so 
easily  from  books ;  the  great  events  of  history,  reproduced  with 
truth  of  costume  and  scenery  before  the  motion  picture  camera, 
are  now  available  for  use  in  the  public  school  and  social  settle- 
ment ;  patriotic  scenes  that  can  inspire  the  immigrant  with  an 
interest  in  America  long  before  he  knows  enough  English  to  lis- 
ten to  sermons  are  already  being  used ;  while  there  is  scarcely  an 
industry  whose  processes  have  not  been  recorded,  nor  a  corner 
of  the  globe   whose  scenic   charms   have   not  been   popularized 

15 


through  this  agency.  Bacterial  action,  sanitation,  first  aid  to  the 
injured,  the  playground  movement,  the  reproduction  of  such 
literary  classics  as  Shakespeare  and  Cervantes  and  Alice  in  Won- 
derland all  have  been  exploited  by  the  indefatigable  camera- 
man of  the  film  manufacturer,  whose  motto  seems  to  be  that 
of  the  ancient  Latin  poet,  "Nothing  human  do  I  regard  as  for- 
eign to  me".  The  words  of  Professor  Frederick  K.  Starr  of 
Chicago  University  describe  the  experience  of  not  a  few  habitual 
or  spasmodic  attendants  at  the  photoplay  theatres : 

GLOBE-TROTTING   FOB  A   DIME. 

"I  have  seen  Niagara  thunder  over  her  gorge  in  the  noblest 
frenzy  ever  beheld  by  man ;  I  have  watched  a  Queensland  river 
under  the  white  light  of  an  Australasian  moon  go  whirling  and 
swirling  through  strange  islands  lurking  with  bandicoot  and 
kangaroo;  I  have  watched  an  English  railroad  train  draw  into 
a  station,  take  on  its  passengers  and  then  chug  away  with  its 
stubby  little  engine  through  the  Yorkshire  Dells,  past  old  Nor- 
man Abbeys  silhouetted  against  the  skyline,  while  a  cluster  of 
century-aged  cottages  loomed  up  in  the  valley  below,  through 
which  a  yokel  drove  his  flocks  of  Southdowns ;  I  have  beheld 
fat  old  Rajahs  with  the  price  of  a  thousand  lives  be  jeweled 
in  their  monster  turbans  and  the  price  of  a  thousand  deaths 
sewn  in  their  royal  nightshirts  as  they  indolently  swayed  in 
golden  howdahs,  borne  upon  the  backs  of  grunting  elephants ; 
I  saw  a  runaway  horse  play  battledoor  and  shuttlecock  with 
the  citizens  and  traffic  of  a  little  Italian  village,  whose  streets  had 
not  known  such  commotion  since  the  sailing  of  Columbus  ;  I  know 
how  the  Chinaman  lives  and  I  have  been  through  the  homes  of 
the  Japanese ;  I  have  marveled  at  the  daring  of  the  Alpine  to- 
bogganists  and  admired  the  wonderful  skill  of  Norwegian  ski 
jumpers;  I  have  seen  armies  upon  the  battlefield  and  their  re- 
turn in  triumph ;  I  have  looked  upon  weird  dances  and  outlandish 
frolics  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  and  I  didn't  have  to  leave 
Chicago  for  a  moment. 

"Xo  books  have  taught  me  all  these  wonderful  things ;  no  lec- 
turer has  pictured  them ;  I  simply  dropped  into  a  moving  picture 
theatre  at  various  moments  of  leisure ;  and,  at  the  total  cost  for 

16 


all  the  visits  of  perhaps  two  performances  of  a  foolish  musical 
show,  I  have  learned  more  than  a  traveller  could  see  at  the  cost 
of  thousands  of  dollars  and  years  of  journey. 

"The  talking  machine  has  canned  the  great  voices  and  master 
melodies  of  our  time,  but  the  moving  picture  machine  has  done 
more — it  is  making  for  us  volumes  of  history  and  action.  The 
moving  picture  is  not  a  make-shift,  but  the  highest  type  of 
entertainment  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  stands  for  a  better 
Americanism  because  it  is  attracting  millions  of  the  masses  to 
an  uplifting  institution,  drawing  them  to  an  improving  as  well 
as  an  amusing  feature  of  city  life.  Its  value  cannot  be  measured 
now,  but  another  generation  will  benefit  more  largely  through 
its  influences  than  we  of  today  can  possibly  realize." 

THE    SILENT     DRAMA. 

Besides  the  "educational"  films  just  described  there  are  the 
more  common  picture  dramas,  "canned  drama"  they  have  been 
called,  which  cover  in  their  sweep  of  interest  almost  every 
comic  and  tragic  possibility  in  human  experience.  Ordinarily 
the  story  requires  about  twenty  minutes  for  the  telling  by  mo- 
tion picture  machine.  These  stories  are  as  various  as  the  stories 
printed  in  our  newspapers  and  magazines,  and  while  many  of 
them  have  no  moral  message  one  way  or  the  other,  a  consid- 
erable percentage  are  easily  adaptable  to  pulpit  use.  The  selec- 
tion of  these  "homiletic"  films  can  be  made  from  the  detailed 
descriptions  printed  in  the  trade  journals,  this  selection  having 
been  approved  by  the  "booking  agent"  of  any  intelligent  ex- 
change. Such  a  booking  agent  I  talked  with  in  Boston  recently, 
and  his  familiarity  with  the  plots,  details  of  scenery  and  relig- 
ious availability  of  several  thousand  films  in  his  "library"  quite 
amazed  me. 

If  it  excites  surprise  to  hear  that  there  is  any  religious 
availability  at  all  in  a  form  of  entertainment  created  for  com- 
mercial ends  and  to  amuse  the  multitude,  the  explanation  is  to 
be  found  in  an  absolutely  unique  institution  which  is  practically 
dominating  the  picture  drama  industry  in  the  United  States  to- 
day. This  is  the  National  Board  of  Censorship  for  Motion 
Pictures. 

*7 


THE   NATIONAL  BOARD   OF    CENSORSHIP. 

In  1909  the  People's  Institute  of  New  York,  under  the  lead- 
ership of  Prof.  Charles  Sprague  Smith,  and  several  of  the  more 
progressive  firms  of  film  manufacturers  decided  that  it  would 
be  conducive  both  to  public  morals  and  good  business  to  have 
the  motion  picture  output  of  the  country  censored  by  a  dis- 
interested body  of  intelligent  critics.  Accordingly  in  March  of 
that  year  the  Board  was  formed  with  such  men  on  its  advisory 
committee  as  Lyman  Abbott,  Andrew  Carnegie,  Robert  De  For- 
est, Samuel  Gompers,  Jacob  Riis,  Anson  Phelps  Stokes  and 
Rabbi  Wise.  The  general  committee  of  supervision  is  headed 
by  Professor  George  W.  Knox  of  Union  Seminary,  and  it  has 
representatives  from  the  Charity  Organziation  Society,  the  City 
Vigilance  League,  the  International  Committee  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
the  New  York  City  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs  and  other 
philanthropic  organizations.  This  committee  uses  two  secre- 
taries and  arranges  for  the  inspection  of  new  films  by  a  group  of 
critics,  who  shall  approve  or  disapprove  them.  The  Censor- 
ship attempts  on  its  part  not  to  place  unreasonable  and 
Puritanic  handicaps  upon  the  manufacturers,  while  the  manu- 
facturers agree  not  to  release  any  film  until  it  has  the  sanction 
of  this  Board.  During  the  eighteen  months  since  the  Board 
was  organized  its  services  have  been  accepted  by  an  ever-in- 
creasing proportion  of  the  manufacturers  until  now  it  can  be 
reported  (I  quote  a  letter  from  the  Censorship  Board  under 
date  of  November  23,  1910)  that  the  Board  "passes  upon  every 
new  film  produced  or  imported  into  the  United  States." 

This  frank,  willing  and  complete  submission  of  an  amusement 
industry  to  intelligent  supervision  in  behalf  of  public  morals 
is  something  absolutely  new  in  human  society,  and  the  fact  should 
have  the  attention  which)  it  deserves.  After  a  few  months  to  allow 
for  the  recall  of  films  put  out  by  firms  that  only  lately  accepted 
the  Censorship,  it  will  be  true  that  in  not  a  single  one  of  the 
10,000  M.  P.  theatres  in  the  country  can  a  film  be  seen  by  man, 
woman  or  child  but  has  been  passed  upon  by  a  committee  of 
criticism  whose  sole  reason  for  being  was  a  desire  to  uplift 
the    standard    of   the    picture   drama.      In    view   of   this   fact   it 

18 


surely  behooves  social  reformers  and  zealous  charity  workers 
and  well-meaning  clergymen  to  secure  first-hand  evidence  be- 
fore they  let  themselves  accept  and  repeat  the  careless  and  often 
unjust  criticism  passed  upon  the  picture  drama.  Meanwhile 
the  Board  welcomes  suggestions  as  to  its  work,  and  will  attend 
to  any  criticisms  on  the  motion  pictures  shown  in  any  part  of 
the  country  if  only  definite  information  is  furnished  of  the 
title  of  the  film,  the  manufacturer,  the  date  and  place  where 
it  was  seen. 

Of  course  the  work  of  this  Board  has  imperfections,  which 
it  admits  frankly :  and  even  if  its  work  were  leisurely  and  per- 
fectly done,  it  would  fail  to  satisfy  all  interested  parties.  In  this 
connection  a  few  sentences  from  their  circular  are  worth  re- 
printing : 

THE  PROBLEMS  OF  THE  CENSOR. 

"The  censoring  committee  of  the  Board  of  Censorship  is  made 
up  of  social  workers,  literary  and  professional  people,  and 
earnest  men  and  women  of  general  culture ;  they  give  their  time 
entirely  without  compensation. 

"The  task  of  censoring  is  a  perplexing  and  delicate  one,  and  it 
is  not  easy  to  make  clear  in  a  few  words  the  methods  used. 
The  members  of  the  committee  are  influenced  by  three  distinct 
factors  :  Their  own  original  and  personal  opinion  ;  the  public  opin- 
ion of  the  various  sections  of  the  country  in  whose  behalf  the  cen- 
soring is  done,  and  the  practical  necessities  of  the  moving  pic- 
ture art,  which  call  for  a  policy  of  steady  but  gradual  improve- 
ment rather  than  uncompromising  severity.  It  should  be  re- 
membered that  the  standards  of  censorship  necessarily  vary  from 
city  to  city.  It  is  therefore  impossible  for  the  Board  of  Cen- 
sorship to  exhaustively  satisfy  all  sections  of  the  country  and 
all  groups  of  public  opinion  with  regard  to  each  detailed  ver- 
dict it  may  reach  in  motion  pictures.  The  Board  has  been  crit- 
icised for  too  much  liberality  in  some  instances ;  for  too  much 
severity  in  others.  The  Board  desires  and  earnestly  invites 
criticism,  merely  urging  that  the  criticism  be  not  on  the  strength 
of  hear-say  testimony,  but  only  after  the  critic  has  himself  seen 
the  picture  in  question. 

19 


THE   REPRESENTATION   OF    CRIME. 

"The  ideals  and  practical  method  of  the  Board  of  Censorship 
may  be  summed  up  in  a  few  words.  Primarily,  motion  pic- 
tures are  a  form  of  dramatic  art,  and,  as  such,  they  deal  with 
real  life  and  the  problems  of  real  life,  and  among  these  prob- 
lems are  moral  problems,  involving  conduct  which,  in  real  life, 
would  be  criminal.  The  drama  of  all  ages  has  dealt  with  real 
life  and  its  serious  moral  problems,  and  the  Board  of  Censor- 
ship recognizes  that  moving  pictures  are  essentially  a  form  of 
drama.  But  the  Censorship  insists  that  there  shall  be  no  sen- 
sationalism and  no  representation  of  crime,  except  with  the 
object  of  conveying  a  moral  lesson.  "Crime  for  crime's  sake" 
is  condemned.  Certain  socially  forbidden  themes,  are  of  course, 
proscribed,  and  any  leaning  toward  over-sensationalism  is  dis- 
couraged. But  for  the  extreme  demand  which  is  sometimes 
made,  namely  that  all  pictures  of  crime  or  violence  be  forbidden, 
the  Board  is  compelled  to  point  out  that  such  a  standard  would 
prohibit  practically  all  of  Shakespeare  and  the  other  classics, 
and  even  some  of  the  best  Biblical  motion  pictures  that  have 
been  made,  and  would  likewise  make  impossible  such  historical 
pictures  as  the  life  of  Washington. 

"Nor  is  it  possible  to  confine  motion  pictures  to  those  themes 
which  are  entirely  proper  to  discuss  in  the  presence  of  child- 
ren. Many  legitimate  themes  of  literature,  drama,  and  general 
interest  are  looked  upon  as  topics  for  adults,  which  cannot 
be  gone  into  exhaustively  with  children.  It  is  unlikely  that 
many  children  either  understand  or  take  an  interest  in  the  com- 
plex problems  of  social  life  which  the  theatre  and  likewise  the 
motion  pictures  sometimes  make  use  of.  Large  as  is  the  number 
of  children  who  attend  the  motion  picture  shows,  more  than 
two-thirds  of  the  total  audience  is  adult.  Much  that  the  adult 
receives  and  can  healthfully  digest,  simply  goes  over  the  heads 
of  the  children,  and  if  children  are  defended  from  the  calculated 
immoral  lesson  and  from  excessive  scenes  of  horror  and  vio- 
lence, and  from  a  too  large  proportion  of  any  kind  of  violence, 
much,  at  least,  has  been  accomplished.  In  any  case  the  chili 
is  subject  to  both  his  parents  and  to  the  local  laws  which  in 
many  cases  exclude  unaccompanied  children  from  motion  pic- 
ture shows. 


"The  motion  picture  theatre  involves  many  problems,  other 
than  the  problem  of  the  motion  picture.  There  is  a  local  police 
problem,  and  a  problem  of  proper  fire  protection,  sanitation, 
ventilation,  lighting;  a  problem  of  the  vaudeville  which  is  often 
given  as  an  interlude  to  the  pictures.  These  are  all  purely  lo- 
cal problems,  and  they  are  too  often  overlooked  by  those  who 
have  become  interested  in  motion  pictures.  The  Board  of  Cen- 
sorship has  gathered  much  information  about  the  methods  of 
local  regulation  for  picture  shows  and  improved  methods  which 
can  be  urged  on  the  local  exhibitor,  and  is  anxious  to  place  at 
the  disposal  of  every  community  any  information  of  this  sort  that 
is  on  hand. 

BROADENING   THE   SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE  PHOTOPLAY. 

"In  addition  to  the  work  of  censoring  the  Board  is  endeavor- 
ing to  develop  the  social  possibilities  of  moving  pictures.  The 
Board  sees  in  the  moving  pictures  an  agent  that  can  educate. 
The  right  kind  of  entertainment  may  itself  be  educational, 
but  the  moving  picture  is  also  capable  of  use  in  direct  pedagog- 
ical ways.  The  Board  is  using  every  effort  to  open  up  this 
field  among  public  and  private  institutions.  At  the  same  time, 
the  business  standpoint  must  be  recognized  and  the  practical 
value  of  producing  films  for  educational  use  demonstrated  to 
the  trade. 

"In  struggling  with  the  moving  picture  problem  the  Censor- 
ship is  dealing  with  nine-tenths  of  the  total  theatre  problem. 
Moving  pictures  are  now  the  most  important  form  of  cheap 
amusement  in  the  country.  They  reach  the  young,  immigrants, 
family  groups,  the  formative  and  impressionable  section  of  our 
cities,  as  no  other  form  of  amusement,  and  cannot  but  be  vital 
influences  for  ill  or  good.  They  are  the  only  theatre  which  it  is 
possible  for  the  entire  family  of  the  wageworker  to  attend.  In 
their  social  and  educational  possibilities  they  provide  the  basis 
for  a  neighborhood  theatre  of  the  people." 

OENSORIOUSNESS  AND     CENSORSHIP. 

Having  had  the  privilege  of  sitting  with  the  Censors  for 
one  dav  of  their  labors,  the  writer  can  testify  that  their  work 
is  done  with  a  serious  consciousness  of  the  hundreds  of  thous- 
ands of  people  whose  moral  outlook  and   views  of  life  are  to 

21 


be  unwittingly  and  yet  really  influenced  by  their  quiet  verdict 
written  upon  a  slip  of  paper.  A  session  of  this  committee,  once 
the  imagination  travels  out  in  space  and  time  and  reckons  with 
consequences,  becomes  one  of  the  most  solemn  experiences  a 
person  can  have.  Its  verdict  is  absolute,  moreover,  and  though 
sometimes  its  rejection  of  a  film  means  the  loss  of  thousands 
of  dollars  of  initial  expense  to  the  maker,  there  has  not  yet 
been  any  revolt  against  its  verdicts.  Far  more  hindrance  has 
come  to  the  work  of  the  Censorship  from  earnest,  but  not  al- 
ways the  most  catholic-minded  men  and  women  of  piety  who 
would  impose  an  impossible  standard  of  refinement  and  con- 
ventional morality  upon  this  mode  of  popular  entertainment. 
They  forget  that  Mulberry  Bend  wants  something  more  highly 
seasoned  than  Anthony  Trollope — that  Mott  street  and  Hester 
street  for  the  most  part  scorn  the  church  and  its  prayer  meet- 
ings. The  work  of  the  Censorship  should  not  be  so  much  con- 
demned for  its  falling  short  of  a  perfect  standard  as  gratefully 
approved  for  its  monumental  achievement,  judged  by  what  went 
before.  The  low  vaudeville  which  has  been  superseded  to  so 
great  an  extent  by  the  photoplay  ought  to  be  still  further  elim- 
inated. This  will  not  be  as  easy  a  task  as  it  was  to  purify  the 
motion  picture  of  French  suggestiveness  and  American  mor- 
bidness, for  the  vaudeville  cannot  be  disinfected  at  its  source 
as  is  possible  with  the  picture  drama,  the  latter  being  alto- 
gether manufactured  and  distributed  from  New  York  City.  But 
there  is  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  many  that  sooner  or  later, 
the  better  elements  of  a  community  will  have  to  supervise  all 
popular  entertainment,  and  indeed  most  of  the  recreation  of  the 
poor.  Only  thus  can  the  highest  welfare  of  society  be  secured. 
And  when  this  supervision  is  organized,  the  kind  of  popular  novel 
to  be  allowed  in  the  public  library  will  be  defined  better  than  it  is 
now.  In  many  a  home  of  supposedly  careful  parents  the  perils 
from  the  books  which  the  mother  and  children  read  are  vastly 
greater  than  the  imagined  perils  of  the  motion  picture. 

Having  treated  thus  generally  the  motion  picture  as  a 
sociological  fact,  we  are  ready  to  answer  more  specifically  the 
question :  What  religious  possibilities  lie  in  it  for  the  church 
and  the  moral  reformer? 


THE    MOTION    PICTURE  AS  A  RELIGIOUS   TOOL. 

First,  it  can  help  the  church  merely  as  an  entertainment 
device.  The  spiritual  value  of  the  church  sociable  has  long 
been  admitted ;  the  indirect  possibilities  of  religion  in  the  oyster 
stew  and  bean  supper  are  commonly  conceded.  Let  the  church 
that  wishes  to  minister  to  the  masses  do  what  a  few  Roman 
Catholic  churches  are  doing,  what  Rev.  Charles  Stelzle  of  New 
York  is  doing  in  his  new  Labor  Temple — provide  free  picture 
shows  as  it  provides  free  concerts  and  organ  recitals. 

Secondly,  the  motion  picture  can  help  in  giving  religious 
instruction  in  the  Sunday  School.  Pictures  of  travel  through 
Palestine,  of  Biblical  scenes,  of  events  in  the  history  of  the 
church  are  available  and  ought  to  be  used  extensively.  In  one 
of  our  public  schools  lately  the  story-hour  had  to  do  with  Ulys- 
ses' adventures  as  recorded  in  the  Odyssey.  Imagine  the  teach- 
er's surprise  when  she  learned  that  her  best-informed  pupil  had 
obtained  his  knowledge  of  the  Greek  hero  through  a  moving 
picture  film.  As  with  classical  heroes,  so  it  is  with  religious 
heroes.  Joseph  and  Esther  and  Moses  and  Paul  and  Jesus 
are  better  known  to  the  theatre-goers  today  than  they  ever 
were  before,  thanks  to  Mr.  Edison's  invention.  Ere  long  we 
shall  give  our  Sunday  School  scholars  the  same  advantages  in 
vivid  Biblical  instruction  that  are  now  offered  to  the  patron  of 
the  nearest   "Pastime"  or   "Bijou". 

GRAPHIC  MISSIONARY  EDUCATION. 

Thirdly,  the  motion  picture  film  can  do  more  for  foreign  and 
home  missions  than  any  agency  yet  utilized  by  our  assiduous  and 
ingenious  missionary  secretaries.  The  reason  for  the  skeptic's 
opposition  to  missions  is  usually  to  be  found  in  his  ignorance 
of  how  mission  work  is  done  and  of  what  social  conditions  it 
aims  to  transform.  Films  dealing  with  travel  and  ethnology  are 
very  numerous — they  enlighten  the  latter  half  of  this  ignorance ; 
and  after  the  critic  has  looked  at  films  picturing  the  operations 
of  medical  and  industrial  missions  in  distant  lands,  he  is  a 
sluggish  egoist  indeed  if  he  doesn't  entertain  a  more  tolerant 
mood  toward  the  "skirmish  line  of  the  Kingdom  of  God". 

23 


Fourthly,  the  church  needs  to  be  an  agent  of  broad  civiliz- 
ation in  its  community ;  one  aspect  of  its  religious  ministry 
should  be  the  social  education  of  the  needy.  All  the  philan- 
thropies, the  united  charities,  the  district  nurse,  the  hospital, 
the  day  nursery,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  Y.  W.  C.  A.;  all  the 
up-lift  campaigns  against  tuberculosis  and  crowded  tenements 
and  in  behalf  of  playgrounds,  public  baths,  and  neighborhood 
centers ;  all  lines  of  civic  education  in  American  history,  political 
institutions,  municipal  betterment ; — all  these  aspects  of  the  com- 
munity's higher  life  need  to  be  brought  home  to  the  public 
conscience  and  consciousness.  The  church  should  assist  in  this 
process  of  social  illumination,  and  it  can  use  no  more  potent  aid 
in  doing  this  work  than  the  motion  picture.  Especially  should 
cities  where  there  are  large  alien  populations,  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  such  dramatic  instruction  on  the  lantern  screen  as 
needs  no  interpreter.  A  picture  is  a  sort,  of  a  graphic  esperanto, 
a  universal  language ;  and  social  and  domestic  and  personal  hy- 
giene may  well  be  taught  through  its  aid. 

THE  MOTION  PICTURE    SERMON. 

Fifthly,  the  crowning  possibility  of  the  motion  picture, 
though,  is  its  usefulness  to  the  preacher  as  he  proclaims  moral 
truth.  It  will  provide  the  element  of  illustration  for  his  dis- 
course far  better  than  it  can  be  provided  by  the  spoken  word. 
It  will  make  his  gospel  vivid,  pictorial,  dramatic,  and  above  all, 
interesting.  The  motion  picture  preacher  will  have  crowded 
congregations,  not  because  he  is  sensational  but  because  he 
is  appealing  to  human  nature  more  successfully  than  his  fel- 
low-clergymen, because  he  is  adapting  his  message  to  the  psy- 
chology of  his  hearers,  because  he  is  employing  a  better  peda- 
gogical method. 

Why  do  not  men,  especially  the  common  people,  want  to 
go  to  church  more  than  they  do?  Is  it  not  in  part  because 
they  feel  that  the  preaching  of  today,  at  many  points,  fails  to 
fit  their  natures  and  meet  their  needs?  We  ministers  use  too 
often  a  technical  jargon  which  the  outsider  characterizes  only  as 
a  pitter  patter  of  dreary  nonsense  and  a  hodge-podge  of  unin- 
telligible stupidity.     They  say  of  us  what  the  little  girl  said  of 

24 


her  pastor,  "he  talks  to  himself  out  of  a  piece  of  paper."  If 
ministers  as  a  whole  were  to  return  to  Jesus'  method  of  sermon- 
izing, and  with  story  and  dramatic  pictures  drawn  from  contem- 
porary experience  were  to  illustrate  a  few  simple  ethical  and 
spiritual  realities,  would  not  the  constituency  of  the  church  be- 
come larger  and  more  loyal? 

To  go  one  step  further,  if  preachers  gave  their  illustrations 
of  spiritual  truth  to  their  hearers,  not  through  the  art  of  elo- 
cution to  be  listened  to,  but  through  the  vastly  higher  art 
of  pictorial  drama  to  be  seen,  would  not  their  persuasiveness 
be  mightily  enhanced?  Applying  these  suggestions,  a  Sunday 
evening  motion  picture  service  could  be  arranged  as  follows, 
and  it  would  go  far  toward  solving  the  "second  service  problem" 
in  many  a  community : 

A  MOTION  PICTURE   SERVICE  OF  WORSHIP. 

Let  the  hymns  and  prayers  be  as  usual.  Let  the  Scripture 
lesson  be  illustrated  with  a  film  exhibiting  the  very  incident 
narrated  by  the  Bible.  Let  the  sermon  be  on  a  practical  topic 
like  temperance,  honesty,  loyalty,  prayer,  the  purity  of  the  home, 
pluck  or  self-sacrifice,  and  let  the  sermon  be  illuminated  by  two 
"motion  picture  parables"  from  present-day  life. 

The  three  films  will  use  up  about  an  hour,  the  entire  ser- 
vice being  put  into  an  hour  and  a  quarter.  The  preacher 
can  combine  his  Bible  reading  or  sermon  with  the  motion 
picture,  or  the  picture  can  be  run  off  silently  or  to  an  organ 
accompaniment,  while  the  words  before  and  after  the  picture 
help  to  drive  home  the  message.  One  man  may  find  it  easier 
to  follow  the  example  of  the  stereopticon  lecture  where  the  pic- 
tures are  interpreted  by  speech,  another  man  may  follow  the 
example  of  the  moving  picture  entertainment  where  the  pic- 
tures speak  for  themselves.  In  many  places  a  licensed  operator 
from  a  local  M.  P.  theatre  which  is  not  open  on  Sunday  can  be 
obtained  to  manage  the  lantern. 

COST   OF  A  MOTION    PICTURE     EQUIPMENT. 

The  equipment  for  carrying  on  this  kind  of  a  service  would 
be  a  motion  picture  machine,  a  booth,  a  screen ;  and  an  under- 
standing with  some  exchange  whereby  the  necessary  films  could 

25 


be  received  in  season  so  that  the  preacher  might  acquaint  himself 
with  the  story  before  Sunday.  In  some  states  there  are  fire  insur- 
ance regulations  that  have  to  be  reckoned  with,  but  in  New  York 
and  most  states  it  is  not  difficult  to  obtain  permission  to  install 
a  machine  without  increasing  the  rate,  provided  cer- 
tain safety  devices  are  used.  A  rough  estimate  of  expense  for 
a  series  of  thirty  Sunday  evening  services  with  three  films  for 
each  evening,  the  figure  to  cover  the  purchase  of  apparatus  and 
hire  of  films,  would  be  seven  hundred  dollars.  Inasmuch  as 
the  collection  at  such  a  service  would  probably  be  generous, 
the  plan  is  easy  of  adoption  in  any  community  where  a  few 
public-spirited  individuals  of  means  are  ready  to  guarantee  any 
deficit  left  by  the  offerings.  Meanwhile  once  the  apparatus  is 
purchased,  it  may  be  loaned  for  use  in  the  public  schools  for 
educational  work  and  entertainment,  in  such  organizations  as 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  while  the  playground 
by  its  help  can  be  made  more  attractive  on  summer  evenings 
to  multitudes  who  would  otherwise  be  indoors  watching  pic- 
tures debasingly  mingled  with  low  vaudeville.  Thus  the  church 
will  be  rendering  social  service  against  which  can  be  brought 
no  charge  of  sectarian  ambition,  and  this  will  be  good  both 
for  the  church  and  the  community. 

THE  APPEAL  TO  THE  UNCHURCHED. 

In  New  Britain,  a  city  of  45,000  inhabitants,  it  has  been  said 
that  there  are  30,000  persons  or  more  who  are  not  in  any  church, 
Protestant  or  Catholic,  on  the  Sabbath.  The  motion  picture  ma- 
chine consecrated  to  religous  ends  will  help  bring  them  in.  In 
the  last  few  years  forty  Protestant  churches  have  moved  out 
of  a  district  in  lower  New  York,  during  which  time  300,000 
souls  have  moved  in.  If  the  motion  picture  is  added  to  the 
spiritual  armament  of  these  churches,  they  will  not  be  forced  thus 
to  retreat  from  the  very  wards  in  the  metropolis  where  they 
most  are  needed.  The  missionary  commission  of  Christ,  "Go  ye 
into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel,"  is  not  being  obeyed 
by  the  church  as  universally  as  it  should  be.  What  we  say  in 
effect  is,  that  when  the  outside  world  has  come  to  us,  in  church, 
and  in  our  way — has  spruced  itself  up  and  combed  its  hair  and  put 

26 


on  some  stylish  clothes  like  ours  and  entered  the  sanctuary  and 
learned  to  read  our  English  hymnbook,  then  we  shall  give  to 
them  the  words  of  life.  Both  geographically  and  pedagogically 
the  church  ought  to  go  out  into  the  highways  and  hedges  and  com- 
pel the  multitude  to  come  in.  The  great  cry  of  the  unchurched 
millions  ought  to  ring  in  our  ears  permitting  us  no  rest  until 
we  have  availed  ourselves  of  every  conceivable  device  to  at- 
tract them  to  the  higher  life  in  Jesus  Christ. 

THE   LESSON  OF  HISTORY. 

The  motion  picture  is  as  yet  a  novelty  in  religious  work. 
Hence  it  will  be  opposed  by  some.  But  if  there  are  con- 
scientious scruples  against  adopting  the  motion  picture  as  one 
of  the  church  tools,  at  least  we  may  comfort  ourselves  with  our 
reading  of  church  history.  The  disfavor  which  is  now  meted 
out  to  the  motion  picture  was  aimed  at  the  stereopticon  a 
decade  ago,  at  quartet  singing  several  decades  earlier,  at  the 
pipe  organ  before  that,  and  still  earlier  at  the  Holy  Bible 
printed  in  the  vernacular ;  and  yet,  in  God's  own  time  every  one 
of  these  religious  agencies  commended  itself  to  the  approval  of 
Christian  people.  So  it  will  be  in  this  case.  Meanwhile  bor- 
rowing and  rearranging  words  from  a  great  American  pioneer, 
let  us  of  the  church  say  that  "with  malice  toward  none,  with 
charity  towards  all,  with  firmness  in  the  right  as  God  gives  us 
to  see  the  right,  let  us  finish  the  work  we  are  in,  highly  resolved 
that  religion,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom ;  and 
that  the  church  of  Christ,  the  Son  of  Man,  shall  become  a 
church  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  never  to 
perish  from  the  earth." 


27 


APPENDIX 


For  the  benefit  of  individuals  or  organizations  desiring  to  look 
further  into  this  subject,  the  following  information  may  be  of 
service. 

The  National  Board  of  Censorship  is  the  clearing-house  of 
knowledge  on  all  matters  relating  to  motion  pictures.  Its  exe- 
cutive secretary,  who  has  immediate  charge  of  the  censoring,  is 
Walter  Storey ;  its  educational  secretary,  who  interprets  the  work 
of  the  Censorship  to  the  public  and  who  is  striving  to  broaden 
the  scope  of  the  motion  picture  until  it  becomes  a  universal  aid 
to  religion  and  education,  is  John  Collier.  Both  persons  may  be 
addressed  at  the  offices  of  the  People's  Institute,  318  East  15th 
St.,  New  York.  They  are  always  ready  to  correspond  or  make 
appointments  for  personal  interviews. 

The  trade  journals  are  the  Moving  Picture  World,  125  East 
23rd  Street,  and  The  Film  Index,  1  Madison  Avenue,  New  York 
City.  These  publications  contain  advertisements  which  will  be 
of  service  to  any  persons  meditating  the  purchase  of  apparatus. 
They  also  contain  descriptions  of  all  films  published.  The  lat- 
ter paper  contains  announcements  for  only  the  "licensed  manu- 
facturer", the  former  contains  their  announcements  and  also  the 
announcements  put  out  by  the  so-called  "independents".  From 
both  groups  of  makers  about  fifty  new  films  are  released  each 
week,  all  of  them  now  censored. 

Articles  on  motion   pictures  and  the  industry  of  producing 
them  may  be  found  in  the  following  recent  periodicals : 
Congregationalist,  Boston,  July  9  and  16,  1910. 
American  Magazine,  New  York,  September,  '09,  page  493. 
Outlook,  New  York,  November  27,  '09,  page  703. 
Survey,  New  York,  April  3,  '09,  page  8. 
Survey,  New  York,  June  5,  '09,  page  355. 
Playground,  New  York,  October,  '10,  page  232. 

28 


The  General  Committee  of  the  National  Board  of  Censorship 
consists  of  the  following  persons. 

Union  Theological  Seminary,  Rev.  Dr.  Geo.  William  Knox,  Chairman. 

Charity    Organization    Society,  W.  rrank  Persons 

Children's  Aid  Society,  Matthew    P.    Adams 

City    Vigilance   Committee,  Matthew   Beattie 

Ethical-Social  League,  G'eorge  William  Knox 

International  Committee,  Y.  M.  C.  A.    George   B.   Pratt 

League  for  Political  Education,  Robert    E.   Ely 

New  York  City  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  Mrs.   Emma  F.  Fisk 

Public  Education  Association,  Mrs.  Miriam  Sutro  Price 

Woman's  Municipal  League,  Miss  M.  Serena  Townsend 

Members  at  Large. 
John  Collier  Mrs.  Augusta  Prescott 

A.   W.   Dennen  Mrs.  Josephine  Redding 

Ralph  Folks  Gustave   Straubenmuller 

Dr.  Henry  Moskowitz  Dr.  J.  P.  Wafbasse 


SAMPLE  FILM  LIST. 

In  answer  to  many  inquiries  as  to  what  films  would  be 
available  for  religious  uses,  the  following  list  is  appended.  It 
is  unlikely  that  any  renting  exchange  would  have  all  these  in 
stock,  and  naturally  the  films  become  worn  out  with  time ;  hence 
this  list  is  more  suggestive  than  accurate.  Moreover,  the  com- 
piler is  not  sure  that  further  investigation  would  lead  him  to 
pass  all  the  films  here  listed,  but  if  he  were  today  to  arrange  a 
series  of  services  for  the  current  winter,  he  would  cull  his  pic- 
tures from  this  list  corrected  up  to  date  and  adapted  to  the  re- 
sources of  the  exchange. 

The  desirability  of  having  business  relationships  with  a  large 
metropolitan  exchange  in  Chicago  or  New  York  or  Boston  is 
evident,  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  percentage  of  "educa- 
tional" films   demanded  by  the  average  theatre  is  small,  and  a 

29 


smaller  exchange  will  not  carry  stock  that  does  not  have  theatrical 
value.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  the  course  of  time  schools  and 
churches  and  social  centres  will  take  up  this  invention  so  gen- 
erally that  they  can  be  organized  into  "circuits"  as  the  theatres 
are  now,  and  thus  secure  the  line  of  film  suited  to  their  purposes. 
In  this  list  the  title  of  the  film  is  followed  by  the  name  of 
the  company  which  published  it,  and  when  a  date  is  added,  it 
stands  approximately  for  the  date  of  the  copy  of  the  trade  journ- 
als volume  for  1910,  where  the  film-story  is  printed.  Recently 
there  have  been  a  large  number  of  excellent  films,  even  better  in 
many  cases  than  these  put  on  the  market,  but  the  writer  has  not 
been  following  the  literature  closely  enough  to  make  his  list 
authoritative  up  to  date.  Any  booking  agent,  however,  on  learn- 
ing the  ideals  of  a  prospective  patron,  will  have  little  difficulty 
in  furnishing  what  is  desired.  And  the  terms  on  which  films  can 
be  secured  for  educational  purposes  just  now  are  very  favorable, 
for  the  trade  is  anxious  to  hasten  the  day  when  the  moving  pic- 
ture will  be  as  indispensible  to  education  as  the  stereopticon  is 


now, 


SCRIPTURAL   FILMS. 


Marriage  of  Esther 

Esther    and   Mordecai 

St.   Paul  and  the  Centurion 

The   Vow — Jephtha's    Daughter 

The  Life  of  Moses,  4  reels  of  film 

The  Passion  Plav,  reproduced,  2  reels 

The   Birth   of  Christ 

Joseph  Sold  by  His    Brethren 

Resurection  of  Lazarus 

Pharaoh.  Israel  in  Egypt 

The  Woman   of   Samaria 

Samson's  Betrayal 


Life  Saving  Drill 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  3  reels 

Alice  in  Wonderland 

Conspiracy  of  Pontiac 

The    Night    Before    Christmas 

Life   of   Columbus 

Life  of  Washington,  2  reels 

Life   of   Napoleon 

Life  of  Lincoln 

Lincoln's  Clemency 


Gaumont 

June  11 

Gaumont 

June  18 

Urban 

June  29 

Gaumcnt 

Aug.  27 

Gaumont 

Kleine 

Catalogue 

Gaumont 

Kleine 

Catalogue 

Gaumont 

Kleine 

Catalogue 

Eclair 

Nov.  12 

Gaumont 

Nov.  12 

Pathe 

Nov.    5 

Gaumont 
iS'IONAL 

FILMS. 

Nov.  26 

Edison 

June  14 

Vitagraph 

Julv  26 

Edison 

Sep.    9 

Kalem 

Sep.  23 

Kleine 

Catalogue 

Kleine 

Catalogue 

Pathe 


Nov.     5 


30 


The   Boy    Scouts  Edison 

John  Halifax,  Gentleman  Thanhauser 

Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  Selig 

Life  of  Moliere  Gaumont 

The   Man   Who   L'earned    (pure  milk)  Edison 

The    Healing    Faith    (tuberculosis)  Lubin 

The  Little   Mother    (fresh  air  fund)  Kalem 
The  Fly  Pest 


Nov.  5 

Dec.  3 

Nov.  26 

Oct.  29 

Sep.  2 

Sep.  5 

Sep.  14 


SERMON  PARABLE  FILMS. 

These  ca«  be  adapted  for  use  as  illustrations  in  sermons. 


The   Flag  of   Company  H. 

Loyalty 

Pathe 

June    6 

Ito,  the  Beggar  Boy 

Sacrifice 

Vitagraph 

June  18 

Hako's   Sacrifice 

Sacrifice 

Vitagraph 

July  23 

Old  Glory 

Patriotic 

Vitagraph 

July    2 

Stars  and  Stripes 

Patriotic 

Ediscwi 

July     1 

The  Littl'e  Fiddler 

Redemption 

Edison 

June  28 

A  Child's  Faith 

Prayer 

Biograph 

July  14 

Her  Father's  Pride 

Vanity 

Biograph 

Aug.     4 

A  Salutary  Lesson 

Parental  Duty 

Vitagraph 

Aug.  11 

Rose  Leaves 

City  Dangers 

Vitagraph 

Aug.  27 

A  Life  for  a  Life 

Divinity  in  Man 

Vitagraph 

Sen.    2 

The   Three  of  Them 

Children 

Vitagraph 

Sep.  10 

The  Sergeant 

Misjudgments 

Selig 

Sep.  22 

Examination  Day 

Old  Age 

Biograph 

School  in  New  Guinea 

Missions 

Pathe 

Aug.  20 

The  Sepoy's  Wife 

Medical  Missions 

Vitagraph 

Sep.  13 

From  Tvranny  to  Liberty 

Freedom 

Edison 

Aug.  30 

Immigrant's   Progress  in   Canada  Immigrant 

Urban 

Mozart's  Last  Requiem 

Music 

Gaumont 

A  repository  of  information  on  educational  films  is  the  Catalogue  of 
Educational  Motion  Pictures  published  by  Geo.  Kleine,  at  52  State  Street, 
Chicago,  111.     This  will  be  sent  for  fifteen  cents  to  cover  postage. 


Additional  copies  of  this  pamphlet  will  be  furnished,  <as  long  as  the 
supply  halds  out,  for  five  cents  to  cover  postage.  Address  Rev.  Herbert 
A.  Jump,  Ncui  Britain,  Conn. 


3i 


A  NEWSBOY'S  POINT  OF  VIEW. 

I  likes  de  movin'  pitchures — yep — I  tinks  dere  out  er  sight ; 

I  used  to  go  to  see  dem  wid  me  goil  on  Sunday  night. 

Now  don't  yer  kid  me,  Skinny,  jest  fer  callin'  her  "me  goil" — 

It's  Mag,  what  peddled  papers  down  on  Main  street,  corner  Pearl. 

Her  old  man  was  a  rummy,  an'  her  mudder,  she  scrubbed  floors 

An'  took  in  family  washin's — she  just  kept  de  wolf  out-doors.     .     . 

Me  an'  Maggie  an'  her  ma  (we  sometimes  took  her,  too, 

We'd  set  up  in  de  galry  dere,  upon  a  Sunday  night, 

To  be  what  dey  calls  "shaper-own,"  just  like  de  rich  guys  do.) 

An'  sometimes  Mag's  old  man  would  come,  when  he  was  feelin'  right, 

Which  made  Mag's  ma  so  cheery — why,  it  mad'e  de  old  dame  feel 

Just  as  happy  as  a  hobo  dreamin'  of  a  good  square  meal. 

An'  wunst  we  seen  a  movin'  pitchure  of  a  guy  wot  boozed 

An'  den  come  home  an'  'bused  his  wife,  jest  like  Mag's  old  man  used. 

De  old  man  didn't  say  nuttin',  but  I  sees  him  bite  his  lip 

An'  feel  back  at  de  pint  o'  gin  he  carries  on  his  hip, 

An'  when  he  gets  out  in  de  street,  by  jinks!  I  hears  a  clink, 

An'  splash  down  in  de  gutter  where  he'd  gone  and  chucked  de  drink. 

Right  dere  he  took  an'  climbed  up  on  de  water  wagon  seat, 
An'  ever  since  Mag  an'  her  ma  has  clothes  an'  lots  to  eat. 
De  old  man's  got  a  steady  job,  he  works  now  ev'ry  day, 
An'  it  would  do  your  heart  good  just  for  once  to  hear  him  say — 
"I  never  knowed  just  what  a  bum  I'd  gone  an'  got  to  be 
Until  those  movin'  pitchures  went  an'  showed  myself  to  me." 

All  what  I  see  wit'  me  own  eyes  I  knows   an'   understan's. 
When  I  sees  movin'  pitchures  of  de  far-off,  furrin  lan's, 
Where  de  Hunks  an'  Ginnies  comes  from — yer  can  betcher  life  I  knows 
Dat  of  all  de  lan's  an'  countries,  'taint  no  matter  where  yer  goes — 
Dis  here  country's  got  'em  beaten — take  me  oat  dat  aint  no  kid — 
'Cause  we  learned  it  from  de  movin'  pitchures,  me  an'  Maggie  did. 

— Selected. 


32 


'N1V.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY.  LOS  ANGEl.F 


RECORD  PRESS 
NEW  BRITAIN 
CONN.,  U.S.A. 


MVonaaWf 


666V 


h  IV 


31 


® 


